x Spilt Milk x
by Titanic-fanatic
Summary: Part of the 'Best Friends' series of one shots I've started. Gabriella and Troy have been best friends forever and Troy has always been there for Gabby, what happpens when we mix a bit of milk in with his support ;


Like a little kid with milk coming out of your nose

'**Best Friends'**

This is another one shot, along with 'Snowed In', where Gabriella and Troy are best friends. I'm hoping to start a sort of 'collection' if you will called _Best Friends. _So you will see a lot more of these cute, Troyella filled fluffy one shots. You'll know if its part of the series if it has this format for the post title x Title x .Enjoy….xxx

**Spilt Milk**

"Gabby, I'm heading out of town for the week. I'll see you next Monday night" Maria Montez smiled, grabbing her staunched leather briefcase and keys. Gabriella, on hearing these words ran down instantly from her room and stopped on the bottom step of the oak polished staircase. Her eyes were wide with disbelief as was her mouth…open in disbelief.

"But Mom, you promised" she stated, trying to withdraw her feelings - her feelings of neglect, abandonment, betrayal and upset. Why did her mother keep doing this? Making all these promises with no intention of keeping them, even for her only child, a child who was beginning to drift away from her. The mother and daughter of the Montez family had always been close, in a maternal sense as well as friends. There was a time where they did everything together, when they spent more than 24 hours with one another in a week, when they were happy.

"I know, I'm sorry honey" Maria replied, checking her cell phone with alarm and pecking her daughter on the forehead. Gabriella was frozen in shock, watching with glossy eyes as her mother exited the house without another word. She could hear the revving of the van's engine and the screech of tyres speeding away, however all seemed to be deafened by the silent tears that rolled down her cheeks. The sixteen year old wiped them away half-hazardly in a state of confusion, staring at the salty droplets smeared across her face in the mirror. She didn't know why this had affected her so. This had happened on countless occasions, let's just say Maria Montez wasn't the 'stay put' single mom that Gabriella wanted her to be, even when she promised she'd stay the next morning her daughter would wake to a note on the fridge or an answer machine message…perhaps if she was lucky a phone call. Gabriella had learnt to accept this about her mother, yet all the while she felt an inexplicable void from in her stomach whenever one of these 'leaves of absence' occurred, there was no point in fighting the fact that her mom was away all the time and there was also no point in crying over it. She was powerless to change the fact but I suppose it just made Gabriella feel better to get it off her chest.

Now sitting on her bed Gabriella pulled a pillow to her chest and wept softly against the satin cover, not caring that she could stain it. Suddenly she heard a rapping at the window, she lifted her almond eyes up to look onto her balcony and saw a familiar face smiling back. The face belonged to one of the only people she could count on, her best friend and next door neighbour…Troy Bolton. His bright blue eyes looked to her concernedly, clearly spying the distress she was in, as usual. He breathed on one of the panes of glass and wrote a message with his finger.

_Is it safe to come in? Or is this girly stuff…in which case see ya later : D_

Troy waved at her softly, searching for a response from Gabriella now feeling worried she wasn't giving eye contact. The teenage girl gave a sigh, Troy was always so light hearted it was refreshing. Not only was her sigh filled with relief it was also with an impatient mentality – knowing that he stopped at nothing to cheer her up… which was a good but also an annoying quality about him, sometimes Gabriella wanted to wallow in her upset and let herself absorb her emotions alone. Troy cared for her too much to let her, and she knew it. And so without further ado Gabriella walked over to the French doors and opened them, letting her best friend in as she turned on her heel. Troy looked hurt by this but it was concern that contoured his unblemished face.

"Hey Gabby" Troy beamed "What's wrong Brie?" he proceeded, taking a seat on bed. Usually Gabriella told him to 'GET OFF!' but this time she did not argue but moved silently over to the opposite window and peeled back one of the white curtains and began staring sombrely at the street lamp. Troy had been studying her carefully as she did this, judging by her body language something big had happened a.k.a her mom had left again_ "Why does she keep doing this?!" _Troy pondered _"Can't she see what she is doing to Gabby?! Even I can see that…and that's because I love…"_ he stopped himself. Precisely on that word because the truth of the matter was he was best friends with Gabriella and he didn't wan to jeopardise that, he loved her, but he didn't want to lose her. He'd rather be in the aptly named by Chad 'friend zone' than on the outside looking in.

"She left Troy, she…" Gabriella stuttered, he could see her grip growing on the curtain.

"How long this time?" he returned, getting up quietly and walking up behind her.

"A week" she replied, her face crumpling and her hazel gaze dropping to the ground. Suddenly Gabriella felt a warm breath on her neck, as she turned she saw Troy smiling sympathetically at her.

"Want a hug?" he offered, his arms out. Gabriella said nothing but fell into his embrace, the sensation of his arms around her made her feel safe and cared for, even loved. Little did she know how much love he wanted to give her. She cried into his chest, staining through is white t-shirt "Hey, that's new" he said, tugging at his damped shirt, her sobs shaking him.

"S-or-rr-y" she sniffed.

"No, its fine…its in my job description…annoying caring friend, secret keeper, movie buddy, tissue" Troy added, tilting his head with each word and on the last one looking down to Gabriella with a grin. By now she would have been giggling but clearly she was too upset for a simple quip and 'it'll be okay' to fix it "Right I know what will sort you out" he smiled, taking Gabriella by the hand.

"What?" she questioned, rubbing her eyes.

"A glass of milk" Troy explained, leading her out of the bedroom.

"Troy I am not a five year old!" Gabriella protested at the door.

"Well you are acting one, come on" he returned jokingly, leading out and to the kitchen.

Gabriella felt slightly odd about this whole situation. Why would a glass of milk make things better? Then again why wouldn't it? Everything Troy seemed to do made her feel better…maybe this was a new one he hadn't tried yet.

"Now what Ghandi, any more pearls of wisdom for me?" Gabriella asked sarcastically as Troy rooted through her fridge. She watched him bend over having full view of the elastic of his navy boxers. Gabriella felt a small smile struggle to break out but it just wouldn't breech the surface of her skin, her thought process was broken as she saw Troy place two full glasses of milk in front of her. _"Wait, how did that happen?"_ Gabriella thought "O_ne minute he was bending over and now…why is he giving me a grin?"_. Indeed Troy was giving her a grin, the trivial aspect to Gabriella was as to why. The fact was she had been staring at his butt when he had bent over and her eyes remained fixated in said place as he got the glasses, poured out the milk and returned the carton back to the fridge, this of course was not unnoticed by Troy who felt a flurry of excitement within him _"Maybe she likes me as more than a friend in the same I do to her…"_ was his initial thought, no judging by the constant spark in his electric blue eyes it was now his continual thought as her eyes remained glazed over for a moment and her lips slightly parted.

"You okay there?" he smirked. As if the electricity of his eye contact had passed through Gabriella breaking her frozen state with the clinking of glasses on the granite breakfast bar before them. Troy darted his gaze to the glasses as he placed them before her and then back to Gabriella's chocolate brown eyes. They had returned to normal, as normal as they could be considering that to Troy they were the most unique and beautiful pair of eyes he had ever seen in his entire life "You said something about Ghandi?" Troy continued, taking a seat on the stool next to her.

As she heard the rubber against the tiled ground, Gabriella's mind pulsated with thoughts along the lines of _"What the heck was that about?" _and _"Was I staring at his butt?"_ soon leading to the conclusion _"He does have a rather nice one though, lovely and…wait I fancy him?!"_

"Yeah…erm…" was all that escaped Gabriella's cupid bow lips thankfully.

"Ha, ha and yes I do have some more advice" Troy replied, eying her up and down. His instinct was to say, _"It's rude to stare ya know"_ but he thought about the repercussions and decided not to press Gabriella's emotions tonight, his feelings would last forever so one night was not a big deal.

"Well?" Gabriella added, now looking curiously to the milk as Troy took one in his grasp and took a gulp. She had never taken in how strong his jaw line was and for that matter how perfect and satin like his skin seemed. As she watched Troy her heart began to flutter and now not quite knowing what was going on with herself, Gabriella dropped her gaze as soon as her best friend caught her eye.

"Laugh, laugh like a little kid with milk coming out of your nose" he stated, wiping his mouth.

"What?!" she blurted out, a hint of amusement in her voice, masking her anxiety.

"You heard me Montez. Do it right now" Troy demanded, seeing her squirming a little which confirmed a few deductions he had made in the past three minutes. Gabriella now couldn't help but feel a giggle, growing within her searching to escape.

"Start laughing Brie" Troy elaborated, looking straight into her eyes "Fake it at first if you must" he joked, gesturing to the glass. Gabriella reached out for the milk and as soon as her fingertips touched the cool glass she retracted them, giving Troy a confused glance.

"Why?" she inquired suspiciously.

"Do you even need a reason?" Troy bartered, crossing his arms on the countertop, resting his chin on his forearms and looking to Gabriella.

"I suppose not but it's disgusting" she quipped, still not ceasing to feel her heart beating faster and faster.

"That's funny all by itself" Troy commented, sensing her nervousness.

"Na, I'll pass" Gabriella rationalised, staring at the milk with a smile pulling at her cheeks.

"Was that a smile? Go on, you can laugh without reason…not everything has to be verified Gabby" he smirked _"like my feelings for you" _he pondered whilst vocalising "Go ahead"

"What…now?!" she stammered.

"Show me, prove you can do it" Troy teased gesturing to the glass as he raised himself to an upright position.

"But" she began.

"Don't make me use my corny jokes" he warned, seeing her glittering sparkle begin to return.

"Oh dear god no" she mumbled with a smile, a small but significant smile.

"See, it's working" Troy commentated, edging his seat closer. Gabriella suddenly felt them knock knees, she flashed her gaze down and then up to Troy, she paused momentarily in his cornflower blue eyes before bringing her glass to her lips and proceeding to drink "What's this?" Troy asked, making a circular shape with his thumb and finger and then flexing the others, also making a mental note of Gabriella's actions. She shrugged her shoulders "A ferocious circle" he smiled. Before she could restrain herself she had burst into peels of laughter, milk spurting everywhere in a catastrophic spray of calcium enriched goodness. Gabriella could see the triumph on her best friend's face as he dabbed his cheeks with nearby tea towel "You know the cow won't thank you for that" he added. A smile was stretching across her face as he spoke.

"That joke was so lame" she mustered, placing the half consumed drink on the surface, her raven curls bouncing a little as she smiled.

"Yeah but it did the trick" Troy verified, the liveliness he loved looking him directly in the eye "Want another?" he continued.

"Go on then" she admitted, now enjoying herself and forgetting the random vibe of underlying lust she had experienced for her best friend.

"What's this?" he asked holding his hand out limply on the counter top. Once again Gabriella shrugged her shoulders "A dead one of these" he continued flipping his hand over and mimicking a spider that rushed across the cool surface and up her arm, reaching that ticklish spot on her neck.

"Troy!" she protested amidst the laughter. He stopped slowly and brought his fingers underneath her chin. The sparkling joy in his blue eyes was replaced by a shining…a shining she couldn't describe, she had never seen it in his eyes before.

"I love it when you smile" he said softly, seeing gold sparkling in her hazel eyes.

"I love it when you make me smile" she returned, feeling an apprehension and excitement flutter in her stomach from his husky voice.

"Well, will this make you?" he continued, shaking away his nerves. There was no turning back now…without warning Gabriella felt Troy's lips against hers and yet again she couldn't help but smile as he leant over the counter, knocking the glass of milk over. Yet she did not move, she instead felt her hand against Troy's cheek pulling on the kiss.

"You spilt the milk" was all she said as their lips parted, now blushing furiously as was Troy.

"Don't you start crying over that now" he chuckled, beaming a brilliant white smile.

"Me, crying over spilt milk? Where would you get that idea from?" Gabriella returned, running a hand through Troy's dirty blonde hair. He reciprocated the smile she was giving him, his work was done now with another quality to add to his job description…annoying caring friend, secret keeper, movie buddy, tissue (a sodden one) and now boyfriend.


End file.
